Social media users shared a photo online of a frozen pipe bursting into a kitchen, claiming it happened during the freezing cold February 2021 in Texas. This claim is wrong.
Reuters fact check. REUTERS
You can find examples here and here. One post reads: “This happened in Houston today!”
A brutal winter storm left millions without electricity on the US Gulf Coast and spiked electricity prices last week, highlighting the differences between the independent power grid in Texas and the rest of the US (here).
Around 8.8 million people in Texas, about a third of the state’s population, were still experiencing water supply issues early Monday, February 22, after last week’s record-breaking freeze (here).
A search in TinEye, an image search and recognition tool, found the photo to be from 2018.
The picture was published on January 9, 2018 on Imgur (imgur.com/gallery/5yB1g) and on January 8, 2018 on Reddit (here).
The headline on the Reddit post reads, “This is what happens in my hometown when you don’t let the tap trickle in winter. Pipes burst in Watertown, NY. “
A local radio station reported the incident here on January 12, 2018.
JUDGMENT
Mismatch. The photo was shared online in 2018 and does not show a home in Texas as of February 2021.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.
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